We hit the road early in the morning on August 26th, 2023. First stop: The Porcupine Mountains in Michigan, about five hours from our house in Saint Paul. Luckily we had two weeks between moving out of our house and getting on the road to do some purging of things and, as you can see from the pictures, it was still pretty packed. When you are beginning a nine month road trip it is hard to know what you’ll “need” amiright?
We hadn’t had a chance to test out the rooftop bag before that morning and the learning curve was very steep! I was giving Dave the space to discover the bag’s utility on his own, and when it was clear that it was time to go, he sat in the driver seat and promptly discovered that having the front strap hitting him in the face was not the positioning we were looking for.
An hour and a half later, after one driveway adjustment and two on the road adjustments, we made it to Stillwater! This is funny because Stillwater is typically a 30 minute drive from our house.
One thing that practicing with the bag ahead of time would have given us was the knowledge that it is a very strategic thing. We don’t have bars on our car to attach the bag to so the straps are secured inside of the car. The bag made so much noise it sounded like a helicopter taking off and about 45 minutes into the drive I already had a headache and needed to wear earplugs to help with how loud it was. You can imagine what a cool cat I was at that point. I have since discovered how to fit everything inside the car, albeit slightly claustrophobic, so we are currently not using the rooftop bag and my ears are thankful for that! And, as Dave would say, “smooth seas never made a good sailor.”
All things considered, I think we handled it pretty well, and you’ll never believe what happened next. Around noon we had reached Hayward, WI and decided it was time for lunch. We stopped at The Angry Minnow, a local watering hole and had just ordered our food when Dave goes, “is that your brother-in-law sitting there across the bar?” We were both thinking that is impossible and when I looked I was like “are you sure that isn’t him?” And then Dave goes, “yes and that is your sister sitting with him!” I walked over to their table and said “well isn’t the universe amazing?!” Neither of us had any clue the other was going to be there and at the exact same time! They said later that they both thought, my goodness our server sounds like Alison 🙂
What a gift to receive right at the beginning of our adventure. Reminding us once again that we are on the right path and we will be taken care of.
After a gorgeous sunrise the next morning at Lake of the Clouds we made our way to Marquette, MI for the next few days. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Lake Superior are some of the most beautiful parts of the country we have ever seen. I feel so thankful to be having this adventure. The message that keeps coming to mind, and I am going to use quotes because I am sure it isn’t an Alison original, I just can’t remember who said it, “The world is truly beautiful. We’re just lucky to be living in it!”